Alfreton Town’s commitment pleases boss Billy Heath

Alfreton Town boss Billy Heath doesn’t mind how the points come after seeing his side beat Darlington 1-0 on Saturday - stating “it’s about winning football matches”.

The Reds scored early through Bobby Johnson and had to withstand some late pressure after going down to 10 men after Luke Shiels was given a second yellow card and his marching orders.

But Heath’s men stood firm for the three points for a fourth straight win in the National League North.

He said: “We scored really, really early and we never really hit the heights after we got the goal. It was so early that we were never really stretched first half and we didn’t really get going.

“We were doing enough, but when you score that early they become edgy and we didn’t capitalise on that. It became an even first half.

“I don’t think Sam [Ramsbottom] had a save to make. There were a couple of crosses where he’s had to intervene, but they’ve not really had a shot.

“Second half it’s toing and froing, not a massive amount of chances in the game, then Shielsy gets sent off with a second card when I thought he won the ball.

“The referee deems it differently and suddenly we’ve got our backs to the wall but the boys have rolled their sleeves up and we’ve managed to get a result.”

Heath agreed that it’s said to be a sign of a good team if you can win when not at your best.

“Absolutely,” he replied. “I’ve said to the boys I’ve no real problem how we get the points, it’s about winning football matches and that’s what we’re doing at the minute.

“When you come away from home to Darlington, where there’s a big crowd that put you under pressure, what you saw last 20 minutes was a team that obviously are full of desire, full of commitment and everybody working so hard for each other, everybody prepared to do what it needs to win a game and I’m just so pleased again that we’ve come away and got a clean sheet.”